Grandmas and grandpas everywhere spoil their grandkids. They ensure their grandchildren are well-fed and properly taken care of (sometimes) more than they ever did their own kids. They even make sure to give grandkids some money during special occasions even when told by the parents not to.
The best thing of all is the life advice they give out based on their lifetimes of experience. The life hacks they learned still hold up to this day despite the advanced technology on offer. Their wisdom and practical genius can still make life easier for the generations that came after them.
Feel free to try out this list of life hacks and make sure you thank your grandma for it!
Cheap Shoe Deodorizer
Grandma has a solution for stinky shoes. Everyone knows how difficult it is to get rid of foul-smelling footwear. Simply washing it will not remove its smell. Though you can utilize talcum powder, it is not as effective as this extremely cheap and genius hack from grandma.
Granny recommends using basic salt. All you need to do is place salt in a small fabric bag. Then, put this inside your shoes. The salt bag will absorb any moisture from the shoe including any smell. Just don’t forget to remove these when you’re going to put the shoes on.
Mug-Coffee-Stain Remover
All coffee lovers have that one favorite coffee cup they regularly use. Despite their coffee mug being heavily stained by all that caffeine, they do not mind drinking from it all the time. But if you want your favorite cup or mug to look its best, scrubbing the stains off will not be enough to remove them completely.
Granny doesn’t recommend soap to remove stains. Instead, she suggests simple baking soda combined with some water as a way to scrub the stains away. A light scrub should be sufficient, as the mild abrasion brought about by the baking soda is sure to lift stubborn marks in mere seconds.
No More Eggshells
Eggs are healthy to eat at any time of the day. But eggshells are another matter. Small pieces of egg shells usually break off when cooking eggs. The hassle of having to remove these can try anyone’s patience, especially when they land in the pan.
Fortunately, grandma has a way around those pesky eggshells. All you need to do is crack the egg on a surface that is flat. Avoid cracking eggs at the edge of bowls. If you still do get a shard, just wet your fingers and use them to scoop the egg shard pieces out instead of using a dry spoon.
Chemistry Magic
Nothing beats the feeling of eating a delicious home-cooked dinner. But no one wants to experience the feeling of having to wash a ton of dishes after consuming a sumptuous home-cooked meal. A mountain of pots and greasy pans is enough to make you wish you haven’t eaten that much at all.
Thanks to grandma, you need not suffer the consequences of washing a heavy load of dishes. All you need to do is sprinkle a medium amount of baking soda on a greasy pan. Then, add white vinegar. Expect this chemical combination to bubble and fizzle. Soak greasy pans in this concoction, the chemical reaction will remove all the dirty parts easily. After this, lather everything with soap and simply wash all the grease away.
Silver Cleaner
Where do you go to have your silver cleaned and polished? How much do you pay to have it done? Back in the old days, grandma and grandpa only needed a few materials to clean their silver. It also didn’t cost them a single extra cent.
Try this genius grandma hack if you plan to make your silver accessories and jewelry shine bright. Simply wet the silver item you want to clean, get some toothpaste, and scrub it on the material using a toothbrush. You will see suds become black. Don’t worry, just wash it all off and watch your silver sparkle all over.
Fresh Scents All Day, Everyday
Garbage disposals are surefire ways to kill fresh air inside the home. Regardless of how clean the floors are or even if the house is filled with air freshener, funny smells will still reek if the garbage disposal is not cleaned.
The solution is to freeze citrus peels such as an orange or lemon. Then, toss these in the garbage disposal the instant you smell a whiff of any unpleasant smell. The consistency of the citrus will remove stubborn debris. Plus, the scent will refresh any room the disposal is in.
Splinter-Free Thanks To Bacon
Who knew that bacon could help with splinters? Apparently, grandma did. Bacon is not only good for breakfast, but it can also help with removing pesky splinters the easy way—no tweezers required!
If you find a splinter deep in your skin and you have difficulty getting it out, slice a bit of bacon fat and tape it on the entry point of the splinter using a band-aid. Then, leave it over the area overnight. The next day, you will discover that the splinter fragment has either transferred onto the bacon fat or risen to the surface.
Blender Cleaner
Who doesn’t love a morning smoothie or a post-workout protein shake? What many don’t love is the fact that blenders used to make smoothies have to be cleaned after use. Scrubbing the blender every morning is such a time-consuming and tedious task. Good thing granny has a solution for this problem.
You don’t need to scrub it yourself. Allow it to clean itself up. All you have to do is fill the blender with hot water as well as small drops of dishwashing liquid. Allow the blender to run for ten seconds. Once you throw out water from the blender, you have nothing dirty left to scrub. The blender is 100% clean.
Neat Handwriting 101
A person’s penmanship can say a lot about one’s personality. Neat handwriting usually means the person is just as neat and orderly. Handwriting that looks like chicken scratchings can leave you open to a lot of unflattering impressions. Fortunately, grandma has a hack ready to solve that problem.
Twist a rubber band around a pencil or pen, then place your wrist through it. Position your hand in the manner you normally write. This hack helps you get a firmer and more stable grip when you’re writing thus keeping your handwriting neat. Go and write that love letter you’ve been holding back and see how pretty your penmanship looks.
Easy Way To Clean The Microwave
Grandma has everything up her sleeve. Even the way she cleans a microwave will shock you because of its simplicity and effectiveness. You don’t need elbow grease. You just have to get a microwave bowl, a lemon peel, half the juice of a lemon, and half a cup of water.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and place them in the microwave. Let it run on the high setting for three minutes. When you hear that ding, let the bowl rest in the microwave for five minutes more. The steam will eventually remove any hunk and grease. All you have to do is wipe it all away, easy-peasy.
Onion and Garlic Smell Remover
Chopping onions makes us tear up. It also leaves our hands stinky. No matter how much we clean our fingers, the strong onion scent won’t seem to go away. The same thing applies to garlic. Though these are all delicious food items, we don’t want them on our hands.
Thanks to grandma, an easy old-school solution will do the trick. All you need to do is soak the onion or garlic-infested hand in cold water. Then, rub a generous quantity of salt on the hand. It will get rid of the smell as well as leave your hand soft due to the natural exfoliation brought on by the salt.
Handy Calendar
If someone suddenly asks how many days there are in January, March, or February, how would you answer that question without a calendar? Also, you don’t have your phone with you. What would you do? Again, grandma has an elegant solution. Simply use your fists! No, don’t attack them for asking a simple question. Look at your knuckles and see them as months which have 31 days each.
Meanwhile, the depression between your knuckles represents the months that have 30 or less than 30 days. The month of January begins on your pinky knuckle and February is on the depression next to the previous knuckle. The count begins anew on the knuckle of your pointer for August. The count then reverts towards your pinky until December rests on the knuckle of your ring finger.
Baking Soda Vs Stinky Fridge
Everyone has the ability to open a fridge during random moments of the day and put food items in, then leave it there for a lengthy amount of time. Too often this results in forgotten food, way past its expiry date. The end result is a stinky refrigerator filled with rotten food.
Ignoring the stench won’t work. The smell remains even if you pretend it does not exist. Fortunately, the easy solution is to get baking soda and pour it into a bowl. Then, place this in the fridge. It should be put in an area where the stench is the strongest. The final result is a nice-smelling fridge.
Lemon-Soaked Nails
There are many ways to beautify your nails. Some prefer to book a salon appointment. However, those trained by grandma only need to use a lemon. For those who believe in grandma’s hack, there is no need to spend money on something they can easily do on their own at home on the cheap.
Grandma’s traditional method is to combine water with lemon juice. Then just dip your digits in. Doing so helps remove nail stains as well as promote their growth. Nails only need to be soaked for ten minutes, after which, the nails are rinsed and moisturized. Voila! Your nails look as good as new.
DIY Pancake
If you’re one of those rare people who can only stay for less than ten minutes in a kitchen, then this recipe is perfect. This hack from grandma is easy and quick to execute. Plus, it only has two ingredients: banana and eggs.
First, mash a banana. Then, whisk two eggs into it. The third step is to fry it in oil or butter for approximately ten minutes. Voila! You have a delicious banana pancake. Feel free to sprinkle honey and enjoy it as a snack or as a handy breakfast item.
Underarm Whitener Using A Potato
People are obsessed with brightening or whitening dark underarms. There are tons of DIY products available online all with the same purpose of making underarms white. These include baking soda and lemons, but these items aren’t the most effective at getting the job done.
Very few people know that potatoes can actually help in underarm whitening, but grandmas have touted these root crops as effective at lightening underarms. Try it for yourself and see if it works. You might be amazed.
Salt As Carpet Stain Remover
Spilling red wine on a beautiful light-colored carpet is a nightmare. But there is no need to panic. The solution to removing carpet stains is found in your kitchen pantry. This traditional hack only requires a few blotting towels and regular table salt.
The first thing to do is remove any moisture from the carpet using the towels. Then, cover the stained area with table salt. Allow it to sit for two to three hours. When everything is dry, vacuum the area in a tidy manner and enjoy your bright white carpet once more.
One Becomes Two
Grandparents are experts in making the most out of whatever they have. They even apply this principle in the kitchen. As an example, while most would use an entire sponge, grandma or grandpa would cut the sponge in half.
Doing so allows them to use two sponges instead of one, doubling a sponge’s lifespan. Also, a single sponge takes less space and dries a lot faster thereby preventing mold from developing on them.
Easy Party Eggs
Grandmas are amazing at cooking for a large number of guests. They have even mastered the art of cooking eggs all at the same time, be it for a family reunion or a get-together party. This easy egg hack is quick and fun to do.
All you need to do to make more than six eggs all at once is to use your muffin tins. Oil each of the muffin slots and crack an egg in each of them. Season and pop the tray in a preheated oven. Your eggs will be ready to serve in as little as fifteen minutes.
A Cool Hack
Ice is not the only way drinks can stay cool. Placing things inside the freezer is not a sure method to chill drinks or wine. Doing so is such a slow process. If you want something to cool quickly and easily, simply grab a tea towel.
Wrap a wine bottle you want to cool using the tea towel and run it in cold water for five minutes. Expect this hack to immediately do the trick. You will never worry about not having cold drinks ever again—and no need to pull anything out of the freezer to make space.
Peanut Butter As Gum Remover
Who knew that simple peanut butter could be the magical ingredient that can remove pesky gum stuck on hair? Having chewing gum in the hair is disgusting and frustrating all at the same time. The experience could make kids and grown-ups cry.
In desperation, many would quickly opt to use scissors to cut the hair to remove the gum. Fortunately, that is not necessary. All you need is to slather peanut butter on the gum-affected area. The oil from the peanut butter will make the gum a lot less sticky. Eventually, it will be a lot easier to pry from the hair.
Ketchup As Copper Shiner
Ketchup is not just great in hamburgers. It is also an effective copper polisher. Polishing your copper pans, pots and other knick-knacks using the traditional way might work. But to give it the good-as-new copper shine, you will need to try this tidy hack.
Drop a few splodges of ketchup on a piece of rag and sprinkle salt on top. Then, use that to polish copper pans, pots, trays, mugs, and anything else copper. You will surely love the results.
Salt As Grease Stain Absorber
Whether you’re young or old, accidental greasy spills on shirts or clothes are going to happen. Therefore, you need to act quickly to wash those stains away. But what if you’re in a restaurant and you are not able to clean it off? What can you do?
In the meantime, the best thing to do is to cover the unsightly stain with salt. The goal is to let the salt absorb all the grease and oiliness on the shirt. Once you do get home, make sure to wash it off as soon as you possibly can.
Easy Way To Pull Out Glass Cups
Sometimes, glasses are stacked atop each other causing them to get stuck. The knee-jerk reaction would be to pull these apart forcefully. However, that could cause glasses to slip from your hands and break on the floor, or worse, the glasses could even shatter on your hands and hurt you.
The best way to pull glasses apart is with the magic of granny science. Fill the top glass with cold water and dip the lower glass with warm water. Watch as the glasses pop out easily without you having to force it, or hurting yourself.
Read The Weather
You might think you’d need to watch weather forecasts on television to tell if you need to bring an umbrella for a trip or picnic the next day. But before weather forecasters were a thing, our grandparents relied on the power of observation to predict whether the next day will be rainy or not.
You can use the same technique your grandparents used to read the weather. If you see clouds in the distance grow smaller as they come nearer, expect the day to be fine and dandy. However, if the clouds grow larger and unsettled, rain is highly likely to occur at any time of the day.
Make Vases And Jars Less Breakable
Vases and jars are pretty house ornaments that can make a regular old room appear classy and elegant. However, all it takes is one hyperactive kid on a sugar rush to break these precious items.
Fortunately, there is a way to reduce the possibility of these items breaking. Simply fill the vases or jars with some sand as it functions as a weight that keeps them grounded. Doing so will also reduce your anxiety of having to worry about your precious ornaments being shattered into a million pieces.
Homemade Cleaner For Your Couch
Couches that are well taken care of can last decades. It can even be handed down through generations. However, they need to be cleaned regularly. Also, they are famous for being very difficult to clean. If you spill hot cocoa on your couch, it might be almost impossible to remove.
Luckily, grandma has a way to keep couches free from stains. It doesn’t take too much money, and the materials needed are easily available at home. You only need alcohol, water, fabric softener, vinegar, and baking soda. Commercial cleaning solutions are a no-no. Simply spray the concoction on stains, brush them off, and wipe with a dry rag or cloth. Expect your couch to smell and look as good as new.
Cleaning Burnt Pans
Burnt pans are very difficult to manage and clean. No one knows how to properly remove burnt areas on the surface. Fortunately, grandma always does! All you need is a little bit of salt. No, not for good luck—it serves a practical purpose.
Simply fill the burnt pot or pan with water. Then, put in three tablespoons of salt. After which, place it on the stove and allow it to boil for fifteen minutes. When you let it cool, you will see the burnt parts lift away easily and you need not do any scrubbing at all.
Perfectly Sliced Bread
Everyone likes sliced bread. The scent of fresh bread alone is enough to make stomachs growl. But sometimes, slicing loaves are not easy, especially if the bread is crumbly. The solution to this problem lies with this easy and genius hack.
Smooth and even cuts of bread are possible minus the dragging and snagging that comes with slicing them. Simply dip the bread knife in boiling water. Allow it to heat up. Then, wipe the bread knife and start slicing the bread. You would be surprised at the even cuts you will make— the same cuts a master baker would produce.
Tell Time Without A Watch
Digital watches and apps are cool. But wouldn’t it be cooler to tell time by simply looking at where the sun is located? That’s probably what our grandparents’ ancestors did when there were no clocks around (because they hadn’t been invented).
You can use your fingers to tell how many minutes are left before the sun sets. Simply hold out your hand, minus the thumb, and place it between the sun and the line of the horizon. Consider each finger as 15 minutes of time. It might not be accurate but this method is useful if you’re stuck on an island with no digital device available for you to use.
Use Salt When Boiling Eggs
Though boiling an egg is easy, some still can’t get it right. All you need to do is fill a pot with water and place the eggs in until the water comes to a boil. Unfortunately, the egg could sometimes crack and the whites end up in the water.
This problem can be avoided by adding a bit of salt in the water. Though it will not stop eggs from cracking, it will help make the whites more solid if they escape from the shell—meaning you get to enjoy the perfect eggs.
Orange-Scented Vinegar Cleaner
White vinegar is a great cleaning ingredient. It is a genius hack grandmas use to keep the home washed and scrubbed. The downside is the pungent smell of vinegar wafting all throughout the house.
The best way to remove this is by placing orange peels in a container and filling it up with white vinegar. Once sealed, allow it to rest for two weeks. The vinegar would smell citrusy fresh and not at all sour.
Watering Yarn Solution
Going on a vacation is fun. But plants who are left behind while you’re on a holiday might think otherwise. They need care while you’re frolicking in the sand, sea, or sun. Grandma’s solution is cheap and easy. All you need is yarn, water, and a bucket.
Plants need not die from thirst. Simply set up a bucket filled with water near where your plants are located. Connect threads of yarn for all the plants into the bucket. Doing so allows your plants to get water. The best thing of all? you will not feel guilty while enjoying yourself.
Revive Frozen Nail Polish
Painting your nails is such a joy. All those great colors bring a different kind of fun to the fashion forward. Unfortunately, there are moments when nail polish bottles carry thickened goop instead of liquid polish. What can you do when that happens?
Grandma’s solution to save your nail polish is to put a few drops of acetone in the bottle and shake it well. See if the texture suits your liking. If not, repeat the same process as much as you think you need to.
Shower Head Unclogger
You don’t need to call a plumber to unclog your shower head. Paying for something grandma can easily do on her own doesn’t seem right. This hack only requires you to have a plastic bag, a few rubber bands, and white vinegar.
Clogged shower heads cause water to shoot out in various directions. The reason is due to the minerals stuck inside. To remove these deposits, place white vinegar in a plastic bag and place your shower head in this solution. The bag can be securely attached to the shower head using rubber bands. Leave the shower head immersed for about two hours. Then, remove the bag and run your shower on hot as doing so pushes out deposits from the shower head.
Polish Tarnished Silver
There is a way to bring back the shine of any tarnished silver. Ask grandma! There is no need to go to a jeweler to have it cleaned. Simple materials you need are water, baking soda, and aluminum foil.
Combine a liter of water as well as a tablespoon of baking soda, and aluminum foil. Then, immerse the tarnished silver for approximately 10 seconds. See how your silver will look as good as new after doing this simple hack.
Baking Soda Beauty Tip
Baking soda is such a versatile ingredient. It’s not only good for baking, but it is also an effective beauty hack. It is used as an exfoliant and for skin brightening. But wait, there’s more!
Rough skin on the elbows or knees can be smoothed using a paste made from water and baking soda. This acts as a natural body scrub. Simply rub the area with the paste and rinse. Baking soda also helps remove semi-permanent hair color.
Fire Extinguisher
Grease fires can happen to anyone. Whether you’re a seasoned chef or a novice in the kitchen, it is always best to be on the safe side. Grandma recommends the following safety hacks when a fire does erupt while you’re cooking.
Small fires can be managed with baking soda. Simply dump a large amount of it on the fire making sure you do not move the pot or pour water on the fire as the oil could burn your skin. If baking soda isn’t enough, cover the fire using a metal lid. If that also doesn’t work, it’s probably best to use a fire extinguisher.
Tablecloth Stains Remover
Grandmas love their tablecloths. Sometimes, they care for their tablecloths more than their kids. Spill something on their precious table covers and expect to suffer their wrath. If you accidentally pour something on it, this hack can save your life.
Blot out the tablecloth stain using a paper towel. Let the towel absorb as much moisture as you possibly can. Then, combine warm water with a tablespoon or two of vinegar, as well as dish soap. Allow this to sit for ten minutes. After that, dab a soft sponge in the mixture and apply it on the area until the stain marks are completely gone.
DIY Cake Layers
Everyone loves cake as much as grandmas love to make them. The best part of any cake is its creamy layers. But if you are not able to bake multiple layers of cake, what can you do to solve this problem? This easy hack provides a solution.
Simply bake a large cake and cut it in half in a precise manner with the help of toothpicks. Stick toothpicks on the cake’s sides at equal distances. After that, wrap a long dental floss string around the cake’s edges making sure you use the toothpicks as a guide. Then, cross and pull until you see two perfect cake layers. This is a more accurate way to get two cake layers compared to when using a knife.